Sandman Mystery Theatre #61

The masked figure of the Sandman looms against the towering architecture of a shadowy city on this evocative cover by Gavin Wilson and Richard Bruning — fedora pulled low, gas mask firmly in place, the brooding vigilante feels every inch at home in the urban dread surrounding him. The tagline "He saw the steel flash, smelled the blood of the river…" sets a richly atmospheric tone for "The City," a four-part arc written by Steven T. Seagle with art by Guy Davis. DC's Vertigo mature-readers label is well-earned here, and this April 1998 opener promises the kind of noirish pulp that makes Sandman Mystery Theatre such a compelling corner of the DC universe.